Week 11

This week we are celebrating RED RIBBON WEEK.  I hope that throughout all of the fun the children will come away with this important message - We need to be proactive and take care of our bodies if we want to be healthy and happy!

Make sure you check the schedule (the red paper in your child’s homework folder last week) to see how to dress each day.

It’s time!  Your child may begin working on their Raz Kids account.  Please keep the bright green paper and refer to it often.  Remember to have your child “Give me 5” with each book that they pick: 

  Listen to it

  Listen to it

  Read it

 Read it (record every 4th or 5th book, only)

 Take the quiz (there are no quizzes if your child is on level aa)

You can support your child by sitting next to them and reminding them to:
Read the picture on each page, first

Bounce the beginning sound of words they don’t know

Pull down the sounds in a word (your child can show you how to do this)

Look for “snap words” they know

Refrain from:
Reading the words for them before they try the strategies listed above
Answering the quiz questions for them

Words Their Way Spelling

I loved looking over the spelling Sorting Mats this last week!  Thank you for putting effort into stressing neat handwriting and letter formation.  Make sure you check your child’s mat each week to see if I wrote a note on it.  Remember, if your child is doing Letter Picture Sorts he/she does not need to write the word for the picture on their mat, just practice writing the beginning sound (capital and lowercase).  Check your child’s backpack on Tuesday to see their homework from last week.

Practice & Review…

Next week we will be taking our language arts unit 2 assessment.  Your child will need to know the following concepts:

·        Snap words: the, my, a, and, I, like, to, is, in, we, go, me, no, at

·        Letter sounds & names: Mm, Ss, Rr, Tt, Pp, Cc, Nn, Dd, Ll, Gg, Ff, Ii, Aa, Oo, Hh, Kk, Bb

·        Count the number of syllables in a given word

·        Identify prepositions

·        Identify antonyms

·        Blend sounds- if I say “pea-nut” your child will need to say “peanut”

Homework Folder

You will see a new set of snap words (red).  Please cut them apart and add them to your child’s snap word baggie.

“Day of the Dead” – this is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and by Mexican Americans living in the United States and Canada.  They celebrate after Halloween on November 1^st and 2^nd.  The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to remember friends and family members who have died.

On Friday, November 4^th from 5:00-7:00 pm OPA will have their 2^nd annual Day of the Dead Celebration.  There will be fun activities and food for the whole family.

The paper frame (part of your child’s homework this week) will be displayed in the hall.  You may either have them draw and color a picture of a relative that has passed away or you may insert a picture.  Please stress neat coloring and drawing.

MATH

Check your child’s backpack on Tuesday for their Math Unit 3 Test.  This assessment was all about counting and writing the numbers 0-10.  Please celebrate the answers they got right and continue to practice and review the ones they missed.

Last week…

Last week our class reading minute total was 1,879 minutes!  We beat our record! Don’t forget to add on minutes your child reads on Raz Kids.

We explored the letters Bb and Oo.

We learned that the letter Oo is a vowel and makes 2 sounds like in the words orange and octopus.  We ate orange slices and discovered that they turn into the letter O or the number 0.
 

Then we made an octopus!  Our motion for short o is to sweep your hand across your body like an octopus.

Bb is for bananas, blue bouncing balloons and a bat and a ball.  Our motion is to pretend that you are holding a baby and bounce him.  Ask your child to demonstrate both of these for you.

Leader In Me…

We are learning how to be leaders and take care of our community.  We have decided as a class to help keep our school grounds clean.  For the next several weeks we will be going outside from time to time to pick up litter.  We challenge you to do the same in your neighborhood.

FALL ACTIVITY 

Our wonderful room mothers have planned some great learning and fun activities for the children next Monday the 31^st.  If you are new to OPA I wanted to let you know that our school does not dress up in Halloween costumes.  But even without the costumes I promise the children will have fun at our activity!

We will need 2 things to help make this activity a success:

1.      2 pumpkin pies (store bought) Costco sizes are great.

2.      3 or 4 parents to help us that day from 1:15 – 3:00 pm.  Please contact me if you’d like to come help and join our fun!

Mrs. Campbell’s favorite quote:

“At OPA… Everybody loves, Everybody learns, Everybody leads”

Thank you for being a part of what makes our children and school great!

Mrs. Scalise